The New England Hebrew Farmers of the Emanuel Society
Preserving the Legacy of the Vibrant Russian-Jewish Immigrant Community of Chesterfield, Connecticut
Photo Archive
We are always interested in additional photos, so if you have any historic photos of the people or places that were part of the historic Chesterfield Jewish community, please contact us.
(Click on an image for larger view and additional information)
People
Places - Then
Places - Now
Then vs Now
NEHFES Minutes and Ledger Book (1893-1933)
This document, available online at no charge at the Yiddish Book Center's Steven Spielberg Digital Yiddish Library, comprises the (scanned) facsimile of the NEHFES Minutes and Ledger Book (1892-1933) together with explanatory information, translator Miriam Leberstein's intro and her superb English translation, along with an index of names that appear in the MLB. (clicking on the image takes you to the Yiddish Book Center site in a new browser tab).
Excerpt from Dr. Stuart S. Miller's Book on the NEHFES Mikveh
This pdf excerpt from Stuart S. Miller, At the Intersection of Texts and Material Finds[:] Stepped Pools, Stone Vessels, and Ritual Purity Among the Jews of Roman Galilee (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht 2015), describes the 2012 excavation of the NEHFES mikveh in Chesterfield. The excerpt includes numerous photos of the mikveh remains. For additional information about the book, see the publisher's website.
Site Plan of the NEHFES Historic Area
This site plan of the NEHFES historic area (in pdf format) was part of the Historic Resources Inventory Application submitted to the Connecticut Historic Preservation Office on July 27, 2007, by Bruce Clouette, Senior Historian, Public Archaeology Survey Team, Inc., Storrs, Connecticut.
Invitation to 1892 Synagogue Dedication
A copy (pdf) of the invitation to the May 8, 1892, dedication of the Chesterfield synagogue. The text reads "The Society of Hebrew Farmers in New England Invites you respectfully to the Dedication of their House of Worship and Education which will take place on Sunday, May 8th, 1892, at one o’clock p.m., at Chesterfield, Conn., near New London. The new Creamery and the houses of our farmers will welcome visitors. Stages will be in waiting at the Boat and R.R. Station, Sunday Morning, from 6 to 10 o’clock at New London."
I Remember Chesterfield: A Memoir
Land Records
(1890-1920)
In 2018, NEHFES hired title researcher Carol Spenser to create a database of all land deed transactions, both purchases and sales, in the Town of Montville (including Chesterfield and nearby Oakdale) from 1890-1920. We wanted to help member/descendants discover when their ancestors first purchased land and moved to Chesterfield, and to estimate how many individual families lived in Chesterfield during those years. For additional information about this important project, please read the letter by our president, Nancy R. Savin.
In 2023, NEHFES hired Ms. Spenser to expand her research to cover land deed transactions in the nearby Towns of East Lyme (including Niantic) and Salem.
The following searchable and sortable table contains the combined results of that research. Additional details on the data appear below the table.
Search for a name (full or partial):
Sort by:
Grantor | Grantee | Document | Town | Date | Location | Acres | Vol. | Page |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Rouslin, Nathan | Vaisman, Sam | warranty | Salem | 1889-05-14 | 5 | 289 | ||
Rouslin, Nathan | Deninski, Jacob | warranty | Salem | 1889-05-14 | 5 | 290 | ||
Niles, Edwin | Cohen, Barney | warranty | Salem | 1889-12-10 | 5 | 293 | ||
Cohen, Barney | DeWolf, Edward | mortgage | Salem | 1889-12-10 | 4 | 590 | ||
Maer, Joseph & Choen Maer | Raymond, James L. | mortgage | Salem | 1890-04-12 | 4 | 592 | ||
Raymond, James L. | Choen, Maer & Maer, Joseph | warranty | Salem | 1890-04-12 | 5 | 299 | ||
Raymond, James L. | Maer, Joseph & Choen Maer | warranty | Salem | 1890-04-12 | 5 | 299 | ||
Choen, Maer & Maer, Joseph | Raymond, James L. | mortgage | Salem | 1890-04-24 | 4 | 592 | ||
Choen, Maer & Maer, Joseph | Schimowitz, Chain/Chaim | warranty | Salem | 1890-08-08 | 5 | 28 | ||
Maer, Joseph & Choen Maer | Schimowitz, Chain | quit claim | Salem | 1890-08-08 | 5 | 28 | ||
Maer, Joseph | Schimowitz, Chain | quit claim | Salem | 1890-08-18 | 5 | 28 | ||
Goldstein, Abraham & Toubes, Reuben | DeWolf, Edward | mortgage | Salem | 1890-10-17 | 4 | 594 |
Notes on the database:
Types of Documents: The database contains two main types of recorded documents: deeds and mortgages.
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Deeds transfer ownership of property from the grantor to the grantee (a “quit claim” deed transfers property without evidence of a clear title, while a “warranty” deed transfers property with evidence of a clear title).
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Mortgages are claims on property (as a condition for financing). The grantor, or borrower, is the party receiving the financing, while the grantee, or lender, is the party extending the financing.
For each recorded transaction, the first column lists the grantor (i.e., the property transferor in the case of a deed, or the borrower in the case of a mortgage), while the second column lists the grantee (i.e., the property transferee in the case of a deed, or the lender in the case of a mortgage).
There are approximately 2,000 entries–you can scroll through the records using the scroll bar on the right side of the table, or using the scroll wheel of your mouse. There are several tools to make it easier to find a particular name:
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You can alphabetically sort by last name of either the grantor or the grantee using the "Sort by" selector in the upper right corner of the table. You might want to try sorting each way, because your ancestor might have fallen into either category. In addition, you can use the selector to sort by the town in which the property is located or the date of the transaction.
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Alternatively, you can enter a few letters from a person’s name (either first or last name) into the Search box in the upper left corner of the database and then hit the "Search" button (keeping in mind that there were often spelling variations when transliterating from Yiddish to English). You can further sort these search results by grantor/grantee/town/date using the "Sort by" selector.
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To return to the full database after a search, hit the "Reset Table" button at the top of the table.
For copies of individual deeds, please contact the respective Town Clerks of East Lyme (860-739-6931), Montville (860-848-6784), or Salem (860-859-3873). Images of land records from the Town of Salem during the relevant historical period may be viewed using the town's searchable online database (requires free account registration). The Town of East Lyme also has a searchable online database, although it only covers time periods after the 1890-1920 era that is the focus of the table above.